Warren Wilson College work day saw students and others honor Dr. Martin Luther King's commitment to public service with work projects at Hall Fletcher Elementary School in January.

The Report Card issues grades A through F, and incompletes where necessary, to a variety of news items in this space. Got an idea that makes the grade? Send it to JBuchanan@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

Reader grade

A to the Asheville Middle School Band program and its directors, Amy Shaffer and Connie Weeks and student teacher, Matt Martin. The "Tribute to the '60s" program that they put on this week was just great. It showed such improvement from the beginners in sixth grade to the musicians in their Stage Band and the seventh and eighth grades combined band.

The preparation they get to become musicians at the middle school level enables the Asheville High School Band to get invitations like the inaugural parade earlier this year. Bravo, way to go.

Judy McDonough, Alexander

Staff grades

A to the award of a major grant to Warren Wilson College to expand its materials arts program. The $2.1 million grant by the Windgate Charitable Foundation will enable WWC to enhance its art department with the addition of studio craft and material arts, working with partners to make Western North Carolina a recognized center for craft study. The grant, spanning a three-year period, will foster a close partnership between Warren Wilson and The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design. The collaboration will provide a sustainable home for craft education in the region that will be open to students across the nation. Grant funding initially will provide for increased faculty and staff positions, including a full-time teaching position in sculpture and greater support for woodworking, fiber arts and blacksmithing so that they continue to flourish at Warren Wilson. In addition to increased faculty support and artist-in-residence positions in each of the three areas, internships for recent graduates will be phased in at the college during the grant period. The Windgate grant also will enable the creation of a new staff position in order to coordinate the partnership with CCCD. "This is an excellent opportunity to enhance an existing strength of the college," Warren Wilson College President Steve Solnick said.

A to surprising, if little-noticed, good news on the federal budget deficit. The Congressional Budget Office's new deficit projections expects a $643 billion deficit for 2013, still far too high but also far below the original projection of $845 billion. The 10-year projection is down by $618 billion, credited largely to a slowdown in health care spending.

F to the ongoing sexual assault stories coming out of the U.S. military. There were an estimated 26,000 instances of sexual assault that took place in the military last year. Last week the Air Force's top officer in charge of preventing sexual assault found himself facing sexual assault charges. This week we learned the officer in charge of anti-sexual harassment efforts for Fort Hood in Texas is being investigated for sexual assault and driving female soldiers into prostitution, acting as their pimp. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has directed all services to rescreen, recredential and retrain all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters. That would seem to be in order, wouldn't it?

A to the restoration of Max Patch bald after pointless vandalism in December and January. The 4,629-foot-high bald in Pisgah National Forest in Madison County, near the Tennessee state line, was heavily damaged in December and January by all-terrain and other off-highway vehicles that cut deep gouges into the treeless terrain. Sadly, 10 of the 11 people ordered to pay a bit over $400 each in restitution of the vandalism hail from WNC. John Odell, resource management coordinator at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, said the restoration effort involved the U.S. Forest Service, private contractor Evans Grading and volunteers from the Carolina Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Appalachian 4x4 Club. Volunteers helped rake out the tire ruts, plant shrubs and reseed and place sod and straw over the area to promote and encourage new growth, Odell said. Boulders, shrubs, mountain laurel and Catawba rhododendron were placed around the perimeter of the bald to prevent future erosion or damage by off-road vehicles.

D to the latest curious move in the North Carolina legislature. Purportedly in an effort to improve water quality at Jordan Lake, an important water source for the Triangle area, a Senate committee has OK'd a bill to ? repeal rules designed to improve water quality at Lake Jordan.

One of the bill's sponsors says the rules haven't done much to improve nutrient levels in the shallow lake affected by nitrogen and phosphorous runoff; however, according to The Insider most of the rules intended to address that haven't actually been put into place. Molly Diggins of the state chapter of the Sierra Club said, "This is the future of rule-making in North Carolina - remove the technical experts and have legislators do the rule-making."

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Asheville Report Card: A to Warren Wilson grant

The Report Card issues grades A through F, and incompletes where necessary, to a variety of news items in this space.